


New Beginnings

by BohemianRhapsodyInBlue



Category: Glee, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Bullying, Eating Disorders, Flashbacks, Gen, Homophobia, Muteness, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:28:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BohemianRhapsodyInBlue/pseuds/BohemianRhapsodyInBlue
Summary: After the fire, the lives of Fred and George changed dramatically. They were the only survivors, they were left behind with only each other to be cared for by.------------------------------------------------------Following an attack on the Burrow which tragically kills the Weasleys except the twins, Fred and George run to escape the abuse they suffer at the hands of people they trusted, ending up at Dalton Academy. Can they learn to trust again or will their past haunt them forever?





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

 

After the fire, the lives of Fred and George changed dramatically. They were the only survivors, they were left behind with only each other to be cared for by.

In late September, two years previously, death eaters attacked the Weasley's house, leaving it to burn the ground taking most of the family with it. Soon after the twins had been orphaned, they had moved in permanently to Hogwarts using money they had saved up for the tuition.

They had been wrongly expecting support from their highly respected professors, this was not the case. They had barely been acknowledged by their supposedly called friends. When the teachers noticed them occasionally the attention was never positive, at least not in their opinion.

The teachers and students blamed everything bad on the twins for no apparent reason at all. They had constant detentions and punishments. On a good day they would just be told to miss dinner to do work, but on a bad day, the teachers were a bit more creative with their punishments.

Left with dementors with no defences and being pulled away from them just before they went permanently brain dead. Being shot with small spells to cause them harm. But then there was Snape.

He beat Fred and George until they were unconscious. You may be thinking, why didn't they just use spells against Severus? However, they didn't see the point. They had nothing to lose except each other, everyone hated them to the point of torture.

They knew it was wrong, but they couldn't help feeling guilty. Their whole family was meant to go down in that fire, so what made them so worthy of life? Regardless, one day they decided they shouldn't have to take this treatment any longer, they wanted a new life, in a place away from all the drama, to start again. They had there wands and knew the right spells. So they left. Just apparated themselves to a safer place, that's what brought them here. Dalton academy.


	2. Chapter 2

They stood close together clutching the long, black handles of their small, ragged suitcases. They were the suitcases they had been given to keep things in after the fire. They didn't have many items to bring, just necessities; toothbrushes and toothpaste etc. Now they were at Dalton they just had to wear the given uniforms so they didn't need the old, ripped and even bloody clothes. Other than that all they had were memories. Family photographs and a few sentimental objects they had scavenged from the fire damaged wreckage they used to call home. That included broken pieces of jewellery and a small metal box they had recovered from Ron's room. All it had was a book Ron had occasionally written in and some pictures of Ron with his friends. Sometimes they liked to read the book just to feel connected with Ron.

Fred's pov

A thin women with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail lead us to the principal's office. She looked happy and calm as if there were no bad things in the world, maybe it was school with nothing bad. No, that's a stupid thought, Dalton is a tiny school compared to hogwarts but that didnt mean there wasn't room for negativity.

I kept close to George as we walked through the slightly crowded corridors following the lady. I pointed my face downwards so not to attract too much attention from the other Dalton boys but it seemed there was no point, all the boys passing by looked at us. Some with welcoming expressions and others with a face I couldn't quite decipher. They're probably just plotting against us.

We soon arrived at a tall wooden door with a nice pattern etched into it around a long metal name plate reading 'Mr Bryant'. This must be the headmaster's room I thought. The women knocked lightly and opened the door before gesturing for us to enter. I let George go in first and followed quickly behind him. To my surprise the woman, who I now presumed to be some sort of secretary, hadn't come in with us and had just left us there.

"Hello, you must be the Weasleys, I'm Mr Bryant. Please, take a seat." Not wanting to get on this man's bad side, my brother and I sat down obediently without saying anything.

"Welcome to Dalton Academy." Mr Bryant continued.

George nodded in acknowledgement and I found myself doing the same. The principal had short grey hair and a stern round face but something about him made me feel calm and almost safe in his company. He watched us warily before explaining rules and making sleeping arrangements. Unfortunately, we found out we wouldn't be sharing rooms with just each other but some complete stranger aswell. Normally there were only two people to each dorm but as Mr Bryant explained, there was a room shortage and my brother and I were more than happy to stay together.

"Now boys, before I introduce you to you're dorm mate and his friend who will show you two around, it has come to my attention that we have something in common." I shared a quick worried glance with George before returning my gaze to Mr Bryant. "It is to my understanding that you're transferring from Hogwarts school, am I correct?"

I nodded slowly, "Y-yes sir, we are." George replied.

"Don't act so nervous, boys. I must tell you I am a squib." I was temporarily shocked but then remembered I'm a wizard and squibs are pretty much the same as muggles. "I know I can't help with actual magic, which might I add is banned from this school and you could be expelled if caught, but I can help if you need to talk about anything with someone who understands the magical side of life."

"Thank you, sir." George said confidently.

"Ok so any questions?" George shook his head, the man turned to look at me. "What about you Fred?"

I looked at George helplessly, this is the point where I should probably mention that I am a selective mute, the only time I do speak is to George and it's only very quiet but normally we just kinda know what we mean without saying anything which does come in handy. Mr Bryant was now sending me a questioning look.

"Uh, sir, I'm sorry, I should have said something. Fred suffers from selective mutism."

"Oh, ok that's fine, do you not have paper and a pen you normally use or something?" The question was directed at me but I never planned on replying.

"No, sir, I normally just know him well enough to get by without him having to speak."

"Ok. Well with that out of the way I will go send someone to get your dorm mate and his friend." We nodded together. He left the room leaving us in silence.

"I think it will be good here, so far only one person knows we are wizards and I feel like I can trust Mr Bryant." George said turning to me. I only nodded. Back at Hogwarts things got hard quickly and the teachers always told us not to scream when they they were punishing us. The students told us not to speak because nothing we said mattered. George was saddened at first but managed to get through it ok, I on the other hand felt like they were right so I took the easy option and stopped talking. It wasn't just that they didn't like me, but I was gay. George knew, I had told him before I stopped talking. Now even though I was away from all of them in England I still didn't have enough courage to get the words out.

Mr Bryant came back into the room with the two other boys.

Blaine's pov

When I went into the large office I was immediately met by the stares of two tall red haired boys. One looked emotionless and the other just looked scared. They both stood up to greet us.

"Fred, George, meet Wes Montgomery, you're dorm mate, and Blaine Anderson." One of the boys smiled and shook our hands.

"I'm George." The other boy, who I now presumed to be Fred, nodded politely at us but didn't make a move to shake our hands as well.

"Welcome to Dalton." I greeted kindly.

Mr Bryant gave the boys their timetables and shortly after we left to show them around.

"So where have you transferred from?" Wes asked confidently. The twins looked as though they were avoiding the question, looking anywhere but at us. I glanced worriedly at Wes who returned the look. Why didn't they want us to know their last school?

"So you're from England then?" George looked into my eyes and nodded slowly. "I could tell from your accent."

The rest of the tour was silent apart from the occasional hum from wes as we showed the boys to their dorm.


	3. Chapter 3

George's pov

We were following the two boys to our dorms, I looked over to Fred who luckily had managed to calm down slightly as he wasn't clutching onto me anymore. That was all to change though.

Suddenly, all I could see was a blur of blonde hair as I went crashing down to the floor. I yelped loudly as my back painfully hit the hard wooden floor pressing against my most recent bruises. As soon as I was down the blonde boy who had ran into me was instantly helping me up. It shocked me when I realised he was trying to help me because normally I was just left to get up by myself after Mine and Fred's daily beating.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you there." Now I didn't know what to think, maybe this school really was good for Fred and I.

"I-It's fine, I-I didn't feel a thing." I said grimacing slightly. Sometimes I was a really bad liar, I did feel something when I fell, in fact there was still long shots of pain jumping up and down my spine.

"JEFF!" This made me jump and suddenly I was turning quickly to find where my brother had gone after realising he wasn't by my side. He had backed away a few metres and was shaking profusely. It seemed as though he didn't want to take his eyes off the boy I now knew as Jeff in fear that if he did he would get hurt. "What have I told you about running in the hallways?" It turned out it was Blaine who had shouted.

I walked off towards Fred, he turned his gaze to me hesitantly. The terrified look in his eyes broke my heart.

"Sorry Blaine." Jeff said quietly and then looked up at us now walking back towards them hand in hand. "Whoa, you're twins, that's so cool!" Fred sent him a pointed look which made me laugh quietly but loud enough for the others to hear. Blaine seemed to look happy when he heard me laugh. Strange people. Although I suppose it was a good moment, not even I remembered the last time I laughed, or smiled.

"Come on our dorm is just down here." Wes said sternly cutting off the conversation before striding off down the corridor.

When we arrived at the room I was shocked, and I was glad to see Fred was too. Blaine chuckled lightly when he saw our expressions. The room was huge, or at least compared to at Hogwarts.

We settled down into our new dorm. I think Fred was scared of Wes because he would always tense up whenever Wes moved or made a noise. Fair enough though. I was scared of him and Fred had always had it worse at Hogwarts so if I was sad or scared then Fred would be ten times more.

Wes' pov

Fred and George had only been here an hour or so and I already knew something was up. They were both really quiet, especially Fred. Fred hugged George on the bed like he never wanted to let go. Was I that scary?

I tried to make conversation with them every now and then but all I got in return were one word answers from George. Maybe they just didn't like people.

When dinner came around I was indecisive about whether I should ask the twins to join me and the warblers. In the end, I concluded it would be rude not to invite them, so I did.

"I'm going down to dinner, you should come, the food's great." I said hopefully.

"Umm..." George started but was interrupted by the loud rumbling of Fred's tummy. Fred turned bright red and nodded to George. "Yeah, I guess we will."

I was pleased with myself.

General pov

"I can't believe you scared another transfer." Kurt said to Jeff making Blaine laugh.

"I already told you it wasn't my fault, if Nick hadn't been chasing me with a water gun then I wouldn't have fell on him." Kurt frowned over at Nick half heartedly.

"Look, here they come now." Jeff said cheerily. Everyone looked around to see Wes walking over to them being closely followed by two red haired boys with their heads down.

"Hi guys." Wes greeted and sat down in one of the empty seats. Fred and George did the same. They already had their lunches. Wes had a big burger with chips, George had a small portion of chips and Fred just had salad.

"Are you vegetarians?" Jeff asked curiously. The two boys shook their heads. "You don't talk much do you?" He blurted out. David elbowed Jeff in the ribs which quickly cut off the conversation. George looked over at Fred sadly who was poking aimlessly at his food with his fork.

"You don't look like you're enjoying that." George whispered closely to Fred but it didn't go unnoticed by any of the warblers at the table. They watched the interaction curiously. Fred simply shrugged before eating a piece of lettuce.

Soon the table erupted in conversation about the warblers and their upcoming competition. David saw Fred and George's confusion when they mentioned the warblers.

"The warblers are a show choir here at dalton." David explained, George nodded gratefully. "You can join if you sing." Fred shook his head frantically. David looked slightly disappointed as did all the other warblers. The twins had sung a lot when they were younger but when their world turned dark there just wasn't ever a right time for singing. Singing wouldn't make anything go back to normal and that's what they wanted.

"Are you gay?" Jeff almost shouted without thinking. George choked on his food nearly spitting it out and Fred looked up and stared at Jeff with a panicked expression.

"Um I'm not..." George says slowly.

"Does that mean you are?" Nick directed at Fred. Fred just stared at them and got up and ran out.

"Fred wait!" George shouted after him but he was already gone.

"Was that my fault?" Nick said guiltily.

"No, no it's not your fault, he's just finding it hard to adjust here." George said with a small smile before chasing after his brother.

"One of us should really go after them." Blaine said considerately but unfortunately they had a warbler practice to get to.

Fred's pov

I ran as fast as I could from that room, they were all staring at me expectedly and I couldn't answer them. I don't think I would have been able to answer them even if I could speak.

I found myself stopping for breath in what seemed like a garden, it was lovely. There was a fountain in the middle and it was surrounded by a light sandy brown coloured path which was accessorised with four beautifully designed metal benches. There were thousands of flowers in blue, red and pink. Everything was amazing and there was no one there so I didn't have to speak to anyone, not that I could if I tried.

I sat down on one of the benches and looked up to see the sun was setting. I enjoyed the sight while it lasted.

"Fred!" I jumped out of my trance to see my brother running towards me. He stopped running and calmly walked towards me at a steady pace knowing I wouldn't leave before he could say something. He sat down beside me and for a while we just sat there in complete silence. It wasn't an awkward silence because I knew that George wasn't about to hurt me or yell something.

"They don't have to know if you don't want them to." Sometimes I loved George so much just because he gave me the choice even though he was my voice.

I looked up at him telling him that I was sorry with a certain look I did. Next thing I knew tears were welling up in my eyes. Why couldn't I be the normal twin, the strong one, the straight one? Mum would be so ashamed.

George wrapped me tightly in his arms before walking me back to our dorm.


	4. Chapter 4

Warbler's pov

We were just starting practice when Nick saw the twins out of the window, he beckoned us over to look. They were sat on one of the benches in the garden. We saw George say something to Fred and suddenly they were hugging tightly still sitting on the bench. Then they simply walked off.

"We've got to help them." Kurt said.

"Why?" Trent asked. Kurt frowned at him.

"Because something isn't right, Fred is obviously gay and something bad must have happened to cause him to freak out like that. They barely talk and no one can say that's just first day nerves because not even I was that nervous." Kurt followed up.

"Well, they'll probably be back at the dorm by now why don't we go see them?" Wes suggested surprisingly dismissing the warbler practice. There were several nods around the room but it was decided that only Wes, David and Blaine would go talk to them because they were the most sensible and they didn't want to overwhelm the boys.

George's pov

We were lying down together on the bed, a few stray tears were falling down Fred's face every so often.

Wes came into the dorm followed by David and Blaine.

"Hi, I didn't introduce myself, I'm David." I shook his hand. I think Blaine and Wes noticed again that Fred didn't make any effort to make physical contact with David but they didn't say anything.

"Nick says he's sorry about earlier, about what he said." Blaine said quietly. I felt Fred tense against me. We were sat up by now leaning against the wall. Blaine noticed Fred tense up. "It's ok if you are, you know, gay. I mean Trent, Jeff, Nick, Kurt and I are, no one gets picked here or harassed in any way."

Blaine must have been expecting a response because he was staring intently at Fred.

"Um, thank you, for telling us." I smiled to him trying to distract him from my poor brother.

"So, what's it like in England?" Wes asked.

"Ummmm, well it's cold. The school we went to was a lot bigger than this school." They looked a bit shocked when I said that there school wasn't so big.

They talked for a while longer. After the boys left, it was just Wes, Fred and I. Fred and I decided to get changed and get ready for bed. I got up to get my pyjamas, Fred did the same. We headed into our ensuite which I discovered whilst looking for tissues for Fred's crying hysteria. We got changed quickly and returned to our bed. Wes was looking at us strangely.

"I'm not gonna watch you changing or anything so you can get changed in here next time if you want."

"Sorry, were just... Really self conscious." I replied. We were self conscious but it was more down to the fact that were were covered in bruises and scars that would make Harry potter jealous.

Gen pov

The boys got under the covers of their surprisingly comfortable bed.

"Are you going to bed already? It's only 8 o clock?" Wes asked. The boys sat up and stared at each other willing for the other to come up with an excuse as to why they were in bed. Back at Hogwarts they only stayed up after 8 if they had a long punishment and couldn't find the strength to get to their rooms, this just resulted in an endless consciousness. Other than that, they were usually told to just go to their beds so others didn't have to see their faces while they ate. Obviously Fred won the battle because he wasn't going to speak so it was once again down to George to explain. Wes was looking at them weirdly now.

"Um... At our old school they were really strict about curfews..." Fred visibly winced at that. " so we are used to being ... Sent ... To bed early."

"Dude, that must have sucked, but goodnight I guess." George nodded and then the two boys lay back down. They drifted softly into a fearsome sleep.

*flashback*

George knocked trepidatiously on the door to Snape's office. Fred was stood next to him. Snape looked up from his work and grimaced.

"Oh it's you two. Shut the door behind you." The twins took this as their cue to enter the room. This wasn't the first time they had had these kind of 'meetings'. They were confident that the other staff had known about what was going on, maybe they were the ones who put Snape up to the task but either way they didn't say anything.

Fred and George hastily walked over to the front of the desk.

"So what are you here for this time?" They didn't answer because they honestly didn't know. It could have been anything. "Answer me when I speak to you!" Snape was shouting now.

"W-we don't k-know, s-sir." Fred said quietly.

"W-we don't k-know," Snape said mockingly "Shut up, you stupid little freak." Snape backhanded Fred across the face. Fred let out a short gasp. George felt so guilty, he didn't want to stand there and watch his brother get hurt.

"What? Have you got a problem?" The professor directed at George.

"N-no sir." George said. Soon he was doubled over in pain after Snape's strong fist had struck George in the stomach.

The hits and kicks kept coming, one by one. Fred was on the floor now too. He yelped in pain as a foot pushed hard into his chest. Then Snape pulled out his wand and cast a spell at George who screamed out in excruciating pain.

*flashback ends*

Wes' pov

I woke up slowly noticing that it was dark in the room. Thinking it was still night I tried to go back to sleep but soon realised the reason I had awoken. There was a moderately quiet whimpering noise coming from the other side of the room. I turned in my bed to see what was happening only to see Fred and George sat up against the wall next to there bed. Fred was clutching onto George tightly like he was his lifeline and silent tears were streaming down his face. George had his head rested backwards on the wall and was staring up at he ceiling. I could see he was trying not to break down as he was clearly meant to be the strong twin but he was failing miserably as he made soft whimpers above Fred's head that was very ungracefully rested upon his chest.

"Fred? George? What's wrong?" I said sleepily trying not to alarm them. Regardless, George's stare alertedly dropped from the ceiling to my confused face. Fred had jumped up from his place and was now sitting up properly, profusely wiping his face.

"Oh, uh, nothing, sorry if we woke you." George apologised quietly. Yeah, of course there was nothing wrong, they just started crying in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason at all.

"No, it's fine, are you okay?" I sat up stiffly and turned on my bedside lamp.

"Uh, well, we just had a nightmare, that's it." George said slowly.

"What you both had the same nightmare?" George looked into Fred's eyes and even though the smaller boy didn't say anything it seemed as though George immediately knew what was going through his twin's mind.

"Uh, yeah, it's a twin thing."

"Oh, ok. That's kinda cool, I guess. Do you want me to get you guys anything?" George shook his head and told me that they would be fine. After that I reluctantly went back to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Blaine's pov

"So they had the same dream?" Wes nodded to me. "Well I used to get nightmares when I first came here, so maybe it's just a new school thing." I suggested.

"I don't know, they were both sat there crying. They seemed so helpless." I put my hand on Wes' shoulder reassuringly.

"Well, they don't start actual school here yet so I can go speak to them now if you think it will help, I have a free period." Wes thought about it then agreed it could help.

So off I went to their dorm. When I arrived at the door I listened in. I knew it was bad to do that but I didn't want to walk in when they were having a heart to heart or something. What concerned me was when I didn't hear anything. Maybe they were sleeping. Wes said they hadn't left the room all day.

I knocked on the door and it was carefully opened by George.

"Oh, hi." He said shyly.

"Hi, um, can I come in?" I said nervously, I didn't want to intrude. Luckily, George opened the door widely and let me come in. I sat down on Wes' bed.

"So, as one of the prefects, it is my duty to check up on new students. So, how are you finding dalton?" I said cheerfully hoping my happiness would rub off on them.

"Um, g-good, I guess."

"Good, now another part of being a prefect is making sure that all students are okay. So you know, If you've got a problem or just need to talk then I will do the best I can to help." I said smiling. I was kinda expecting them to talk to me at that point but I understood that they weren't ready.

"Most of us here at dalton are here because we weren't happy at our old schools. I was bullied, so was Kurt, he's my boyfriend now." Why did I say that, that was completely irrelevant?

"We had some trouble at our old school." I saw George tense up at his own words and Fred trembled slightly beside him.

"Well, just know you're safe here and no one will be mean or anything because if they do they'll be expelled." George nodded. I said goodbye and left. It was a short conversation but I guess I learnt that they didn't have a good time at their previous school.

Gen pov

It was only an hour after Fred and George's little talk with Blaine that they got called to the principal's office. Honestly, they were terrified. In Hogwarts, you were only called to the headmaster's office for bad news.

However when they got there we noticed that Mr Bryant looked almost as nervous as them as he stared at his desk. The twins followed his gaze to see what had his attention so intently and they froze in their tracks.

"Boys, I think you should sit down." There on his desk was a howler. Dread filled their bodies as they slowly took our seats infront of the desk. "Do you want to do it or shall I?" George hesitated before reaching out for the letter. He held it in his hands just looking at it for a moment with a sad expression. He knew what would be said in the letter, he just hoped not everything was mentioned, the bullying and abuse, they went to Dalton for a clean start. They didn't want other people to know their secrets.

Slowly, George made a small tear in the envelope and suddenly it sprang to life.

"Fred and George Weasley!" The twins winced simultaneously "How dare you leave Hogwarts like that? Either you come back straight away or we will send out search parties, and I promise you we will find you." It was Dumbledore's voice but he was shouting so it was barely recognisable "If you ever do this again things will not be pretty. When you get back here you will be in serious trouble, do you hear me?" Mr Bryant noticed how the twin's eyes widened in fear. "You are a disgrace to this school!" Rapidly the letter tore itself to shreds without even saying who it was from, that was good though because the boys didn't want anyone to know who it was.

The room was quickly filled with a tense silence.

"Now, boys, I have the feeling you're not going to tell me what that was about but tell me this, did you tell anyone you were leaving your school?" George and Fred shamefully shook their heads while manoeuvring there gazes to the floor. "Do you plan on going back?" The boys shook their heads quicker that time.

"Ok, you can go, but remember I'm always here if you need to talk."

The twins promptly stood up and left the room silently.

Warblers pov

We were leaving rehearsal and heading back to David's room for a sleepover. On the way we had to pass the principal's office and what we heard was appalling. We all stopped by the door and listened.

"-be in serious trouble, do you hear me?" A male's voice bellowed in he office, It couldn't be Mr Bryant because his voice went all raspy when he shouted. This voice sounded old but strong too. "You are a disgrace to this school!" Then there was just silence.

We looked at each other, whoever was in that office was clearly in big trouble, what we weren't expecting was for the two shy red headed boys to slump out quietly.

They looked fearful when they saw us just standing there. For once George actually looked more teary than Fred.

"What happened?" Jeff asked inquisitively. George looked at his feet and Fred tugged at his arm. George looked up into Fred's eyes and suddenly his sad expression was replaced with shock.

Fred's pov

"Do you think they -" George started. The warblers watched us curiously. Luckily it seemed George understood what I was thinking, Hogwarts were going to send search parties out to find us. "But that means that-" I wasn't saying anything but it was like we were having a conversation. There was no way we'd be able to hide, we had to find out where the search parties were going. "You're right. Come on." That's all the warblers got before we ran down the corridor.

Warbler's pov

"Ok, is anyone else confused?" Trent said in his monotonous voice. We all nodded and murmured and agreed. "Well then let's go find out what's going on then."


	6. Chapter 6

Gen pov

After finding their dorm room empty, the warblers searched the grounds until just after an hour when they found the twins sitting in the gardens on the same bench they normally sat on.

The group of boys were relieved that they had finally found Fred and George. The walked over and greeted them which made the two jump in unison.

"Hi, sorry about earlier. We shouldn't have been listening into the office." Blaine apologised guiltily. The warblers watched as the twins' eyes widened.

"H-how much d-did you hear?" George stammered fearfully. The warblers were about to answer when a loud hoot echoed through the trees.

"Was that an owl?" Kurt asked in disbelief. Before anyone could comment further the said owl swooped down onto the bench beside Fred. The big brown owl had a black envelope in its beak.

"Hey there Pigwidgeon." George said to the happy owl as he gratefully stroked down her back feathers. Pigwidgeon used to be Ginny's owl, before the accident, she had bonded with the twins. She dropped the letter onto Fred's lap.

The warblers watched in awe as Fred let the owl hopped onto his arm before taking off and flying away into the distance.

"Sooo... Are you guys gonna explain that?" The answer was clearly a no when Fred stood up, he walked a few paces away before opening the letter.

"Um well, our old school didn't use any technology so they taught us how to train owls to take letters for us." George said, it kinda was true.

The letter was from Sirius. He was the only one who stayed kind to them after their family's death. They had sent him a letter to check up on the happenings of Hogwarts. If there really were search parties going out then it wouldn't be long before they were found and imprisoned at their nightmare school once again.

Fred began walking back with tears in his eyes. George stood up.

"It's happening, isn't it?" George asked quietly referring to the search. He nodded and George stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the bench again. He held his head in his hands. "We can go stay inside, never leave and then they'll never see us."

Seeing that things were obviously going downhill for the twins, David decided to speak up.

"Well guys, we were wondering if you'd like to join our sleepover later."

"Yeah, every month the warblers throw a sleepover." Trent chimed in.

"Umm I guess we could." Fred pulled hard on George's arm before rapidly shaking his head in disapproval. "Fred, it'll be good to have some... Friends... Here, especially with every thing that is going on." Fred hesitated but slowly nodded.

"Great, well we will see you there then." Blaine smiled happily.

Line break

Fred's pov

I ambled timidly behind George as we headed cautiously towards Blaine's room with Wes.

I had thought about making some sort of excuse to stop my brother and I from going to the sleepover. I could have faked being ill or fallen asleep. That would never have worked though because without my voice all I had to communicate was my eyes, however George knows the looks I have in my eyes, he knows when I'm faking so I didn't attempt it.

We arrived at the dorm and Wes knocked loudly and confidently. I wondered how he could be so confident when I was such a mess. I remembered the times when I was stronger, when I could speak to other people, when I had friends.

Blaine appeared at the door and smiled.

"Hi, come in." Blaine opened the door widely and we all filed in. Inside I could see the other boys sat together in a circle. They looked up at the three of us and started to shuffle sideways. I soon realised they were trying to make space for us. Wes sat down by an African American boy. The small blonde boy that was sat next to him patted the carpet besides him and gestured for us to sit down.

I turned towards George and he nodded back to me before sitting down next to the boy, I did the same. We were all sat quietly now looking at each other.

"So, Fred and George. As the warblers do for all new students who make it into our friend group we are having a sleepover. By tradition. We usually do something we like to call the sharing circle." Blaine began. George nodded silently to confirm that we understood so far. "What we do is go around the circle one by one and say things about our life. But what you need to know is that you can ask any questions you feel need to be asked and you can say as much or as little as you like. Ok?" George nodded more energetically this time.

"As the head council member, I feel it is my inclined duty to be the first to share their story." A few of the boys nodded in agreement. "Ok, well, as most of you know I am Wesley Montgomery. I was born into a wealthy family and was immediately enrolled into dalton academy. I like to sing but my family want me to be a lawyer so I have multiple tutors in all academic subjects. I guess that's pretty much it." Wes gestured for the African American beside him to begin.

"Hello, I'm David. I'm friends with Wes because we have similar stories. My family are moderately wealthy and I came to this school because my parents wanted me to follow in my older brother's footsteps. He's a politician and they think it would be a good path for me to take." Next up was a small dark haired boy.

"I'm Nick, I'm completely devoted to my academics, unlike David and Wes I actually do want to have a job in the government. Another thing I'm devoted to is my boyfriend Jeff." He leaned into the blonde boy next to George. "And I'm also a singer in the warblers."

"Hi, as Nick blatantly pointed out, I'm Jeff. However I'm here at dalton because my parents, at first just wanted me to improve my grades but when they found out I was gay, threw me out and now I board here all year long. But it's not all bad because I have Nick and the other warblers and they were all here for me in my time of need." Jeff finished and I was suddenly filled with an unbearable dread. We were next. The warblers turned to look at us expectantly.

"Um, hi. I'm George and my brother and I came here from England. We boarded at a school full time when we were no longer... Safe ... At our usual accommodation."

"What happened that made you unsafe?" A boy I think it was Kurt as he was practically sat on Blaine.

"Umm, Well, Some...bad...people came to our house one day." I tensed up next to George he looked at me and asked with his eyes if I was ok for him to continue. I nodded slowly into his shoulder. "Ok, they came to our house and they set it on fire." A few gasps were heard around the circle but George carried on. "The fire was too bad to stop in time and our whole family, mum, dad, our little sister ginny, our younger brother Ron and our older brother Percy, they were all inside." He paused when I trembled. "We are the only two that survived the fire and we couldn't stay at the house anymore because it barely existed so we went to our school and stayed there."

"Is that why you don't talk much? Are you worried that some one here will be like those bad people?" Wes asked.

"Not exactly," I poked George softly in the arm, I shook my head violently. I didn't want them to know why we didn't speak as frequently as we should. George knew this. "The school system wasn't very...good. That's why we left."

"Was it bullying?" David asked.

"Sort of, we weren't treated well." I shivered with tremors remembering the abuse. I reached up and wiped away the silent tears that had emerged and looked down at the floor. "Um, we don't speak very much, lots of people told us that what we had to say didn't matter, now Fred is a selective mute. Usually I don't need to speak because we're not used to being around so many people who want to spend time with us." There was a moment of silence.

"Look, here at Dalton, everybody's opinion matters. I think I speak for all of us when I say that the way you were treated was awful. Just know that we'll show you that it's not the same here." George sighed besides me and I knew why. Yeah, they would try and help but they didn't know the extent of the abuse we endured at Hogwarts. That was until one a certain talkative warbler recounted the events that had previously occurred that day.

"Wait, that still doesn't explain earlier." Everyone turned to look at Jeff in confusion. "In the office?" He explained further. That's when the pin dropped. Now every one was looking at us waiting for us to explain. How could we? A talking letter came and told us that our school was sending search parties for us because we were abused at our school and we're really wizards. Of course that would be so easy to say but we couldn't say.

"We...we don't w-want to talk about t-that." George pleaded.

"Ok, but that couldn't have Mr Bryant." David very helpfully points out.

"Um... No it wasn't Mr Bryant." That was it, they wanted to know, they were gonna find out about the teachers, what they did to us. If they found out they would never look at us the same way.

I must have zoned out because next thing I knew I was being lifted up into a standing position.

"-ould take him back to the dorm, he doesn't cope very well with the memories." I could here George's voice.

I looked at the warblers with my widened eyes, I noticed my breathing was fast and raspy. I swayed slightly on the spot before tensing as some hands grasped around my waist to steady me.

"It's ok, Fred, it's me George, it's ok." That's all I could hear, it's ok, but it wasn't. Nothing was ok. Dumbledore sent out search parties, they'd find us within a month, if not quicker. My breathing got quicker and quicker until suddenly everything was calm again. Black but calm.


	7. Chapter 7

George's pov

I was pacing impatiently as the nurse watched my brother and I. She was watching Fred because he had had a panic attack and Blaine made me take him to the nurse's room. She was watching me because she thought I was gonna have a panic attack from the stress.

I had been rambling endlessly about how we shouldn't have gone to the sleepover, Fred told me not to and I didn't listen. Everything was my fault.

"Maybe you should take a seat, Mr Weasley." She phrased it as a suggestion but I knew she was telling me that if I didn't sit down she would sedate me. So I obediently sat in a cushiony red chair.

I heard a murmuring groan from the other side of the room. It brought a slight smile to my face. That was the first sound Fred had voluntarily made since we had come to Dalton. I raced over to the bed he was slumped onto within seconds.

"It's ok Fred, we're in the nurse's room." I guess that was supposed to be comforting but it wasn't. Fred jumped up into a sitting position instantly, his eyes were wide.

"Whoa, it's ok, nothing...happened like that." Fred's brain must have gone back to Hogwarts for a moment, if we went to the infirmary back there then Snape would come for us. "You just had a panic attack." I gave him a small expression resembling a smile.

Fred lay back down, he must have been tired. Of course he would've been tired, he had a panic attack.

I began to hum a quiet tune to relax him but then realised I only knew songs from Hogwarts which definitely wouldn't help in that situation. So I stopped.

About an hour later, the nurse let Fred go. I nearly cried when I felt how light he was. That's when I also remembered how little he had eaten. How did I not see sooner? I could have helped him.

I stopped that chain of thoughts. I still could help him. And right now that's what he needed.

I easily carried him up to the dorm. I suppose he must have still been tired because when I got to the dorm he was asleep in my arms. I clumsily knocked on the door with my forehead. I winced slightly at the memories of being hit in the head. I must have been deep into a memory because I didn't notice the door opening.

"George!" I saw a hand being waved in my face and stepped back quickly. I saw it was Wes.

"Oh hi, sorry I must have had a daydream." I dismissed it and turned sideways to carry Fred through the doorway.

"How is he?" Wes asked as I placed Fred down onto the bed.

"He's fine the nurse just said he should rest tonight and then he should be back to normal tomorrow." I sat down beside Wes on his bed so we could watch Fred.

"And how are you?" I looked at him with confusion. Not many people had asked me how I was. "This must be hard on you. I mean whatever happened at your last school, it seems like you've just had to take it all and be strong for Fred."

I shifted my gaze back to Fred. I watched his chest move as he breathed. I sniffed loudly as I suppressed from crying. I suppose Wes was more accurate than he knew. I hadn't acted like all the people at Hogwarts didn't bother me to act tough or keep my own sanity, I knew that I was all Fred had left, I had to be strong for him.

"I didn't even notice." Some tears were slowly making their way down my cheeks. "I mean, yeah, I saw he was affected by things at ho- our last school but," I drew in a shaky breath and exhaled heavily. "Have you seen how skinny he is?" Now I couldn't hold back, tears were just flowing out. I didn't even think to be quiet.

I should have stopped the people who made our house burn down, I should have saved my family, I should have fought back when people said stuff at school. I should have made us leave sooner, we were never safe at that school so why didn't I do anything about it? I didn't because I'm a coward I'm the worst brother Fred could've ever had. Mum and dad would be so ashamed.

"Stop, none of that is true." Huh, I realised I must have said all that out loud. "From what I know you're the best brother anyone could ask for."

"But that's just it, you only know me now. You weren't there at Hogwarts, you didn't see what happened. I could've done so much more."

Gen pov

Wes heard it even if George didn't notice, he'd said Hogwarts. Wes didn't know what it was but he sure was going to look it up later.

"You're right, I don't know what happened. But you can always tell me or one of the other warblers." Wes saw the small shake of George's head, even through George's trembling and loud sobs.

"George..." The two boys looked up instantly and saw Fred was awake. He had seen George crying.

George didn't run over like he had in the nurse's office, he just stared back at Fred sadly. That was one of the only words Fred had said since long before Dalton.

"I'm fine." Fred shuffled slightly indicating that George could join him on the bed. George smiled back idly and walked over. He lay down onto the bed and engulfed Fred into his arms.

Wes stayed where he was, just watching, until he knew they were asleep. He stood up silently and sat down at his desk in front of his laptop.

Wes' pov

I typed into the search engine 'Hogwarts'. I didn't know what I would find, but I was shocked to find there were only two results.

The first was a website for a castle. The second was a newspaper agency. I clicked on the first link. The website was dark and had scattered pictures of students surrounded by candles. This looked like some gothic cult. At the top of the page read the words 'Hogwarts School' in bold golden lettering. Underneath it said 'school for the gifted'.

Gifted. In what way gifted? This question pondered in my head, however, I was unable to access the main part of the website because it was blocked with a password. I went back and clicked onto the newspaper agency's page.

It came up with a list of headlines and when they were published. The first dated back to 1643 and the headline was 'Hogwarts School Opening'. I scrolled down the page and saw another headline about halfway down the page. This one dated to 2000 and was titled 'Death Eater's attack'. Wes decided to click on this one. There was a picture of a large family under the headline. When I looked closely at the photograph I realised Fred and George were in it.

They looked happy.

I scrolled down to read a bit of the article.

'The death eater's most recent attack occurred yesterday on 23rd July, at 9pm. They murdered ministry worker, Arthur Weasley, along with three of his children and his wife. The only survivors were the twins, Fred and George Weasley.'

Ok, so what are death eaters? Why were they killing people?

I went back to the list of headlines and clicked on the last to be posted. This one was published yesterday and had the headline 'Weasley Twins - WANTED Dead or Alive'.

What? How could they be wanted? What had they done? Is this why they left? No, it couldn't be, this was published after they got here. I clicked on the link.

'The Weasley twins are missing, join the search parties at Hogwarts to find them. The person responsible for the finding of these boys, dead or alive, will be rewarded the item of their choice. '

I'd had enough of this and shut my laptop off. I silently returned to my bed and drifted of into a thoughtful sleep.


End file.
